Parallel-to-Cascading Optical Code Label Processing in Optical Packet Switching Networks

Parallel-to-cascading optical code (OC) label processing based on fiber Bragg grating is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. With this technique, the length of the multibit OC label is the same as that of the one-bit OC label; only one encoder and one decoder are needed for the multibit OC label's generation and recognition; the relatively low-speed recognition patterns also reduce the complexity of generating the control signal. The experimental results show that both the ratio of autocorrelation peak to cross-correlation peak (ACP/CCP) and the ratio of ACP to maximum autocorrelation wing are higher than 8 dB in the multibit label's decoded signal, so the parallel-to-cascading OC label processing is practical for optical packet switching networks.